Early March 1919. Spring had already entered Beijing by this time, but the weather had not warmed much, and the last day of February was covered with a heavy snowfall, which cast a white veil over the somewhat depressed Chinese capital, as if mourning the soldiers of the northern and southern armies who died on the battlefields of Henan and Shandong. For the Beiyang ruling government in Beijing, this layer covered the white color of Beijing, and it also seemed to indicate that their political life was actually dead!

Now the common people under the various ministries of the ruling government have been informed of the latest developments of the Civil War through their own channels. Knowing that the first elite third division of Beiyang raised the white flag and surrendered after the bombs were exhausted in Yucheng, and knowing that the main force of the first front army of Beiyang that went to rescue the third division was also encircled in Shangqiu, the 240th China does not need warlords to look at it and take the old road of the third division! I also know that the Jinpu Road Front suffered a crushing defeat at the foot of Mount Tai, the two divisions of the Second Army were completely defeated, and the remaining five divisions and two mixed brigades also suffered heavy losses under the sudden attack of the Southern Army, and now abandoned Jinan and retreated to Dezhou, the northernmost part of Shandong.

In addition, there is also bad news on the front line of Shanhaiguan, the 13th Beiyang Division guarding there is still playing the role of tofu scum, and the whole line collapsed under the attack of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army! Jiang Jshi, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front Army of the National Revolutionary Army, who had just completed the reorganization of the armies in the northeast, now also commanded an army of 100,000 (of course, not all of his troops) and entered the pass. Ready to snatch Beijing City with Chang Ruiqing!

Our Changda warlord, who worked hard to defeat the main force of the Beiyang Army, was of course not willing to lose the fat in his mouth, and under his order, Zhang Zhizhong commanded the Eighth Army and the New Eighth Division to march in the starry night. Within a few days after the capture of Lankao, Lianke Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Anyang and other places have now been killed in the territory of Zhili.

As for the group of emperors in Beijing City, uh, the 240th China doesn't need warlords to be those ministers in Dongjiaomin Alley. Most of them have already gone south in the first few days of March! In their opinion, there is absolutely no way to recover the situation in Beiyang, and they can only admit the reality. Of course, it was not left behind, and the British minister Eston and the French minister Henry did not move their nests yet. It's not that the French and the British believe that the Beiyang government has any clever plan to revive the dead, but that they have never made progress in the negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Nationalist government in Nanjing???

However, the Beiyang ruling government is still holding on these days, and Xu Shuzheng, the supreme consul, has not sent a telegram, and there are still meetings in the base camp every day. Gather troops everywhere, it is said that they want to defend Beijing! Wu Peifu, the first general in Beiyang who left the class halfway, was the first to lead troops into Beijing as the "King of Qin", and he brought an infantry division from Baoding that had just been formed (composed of three mixed brigades with three dissatisfied members and leftovers from the third division), and also gave the name of the third division of the Central Army! There is quite a bit of shame for the city.

The new Third Division and their commander Wu Peifu returned to Beijing on March 3, 1919. As soon as I got off the train at Zhengyangmen Railway Station, I was taken to the ruling government in Tieshi Hutong by a car sent by the ruling government. In an extremely secluded office, I saw Xu Shuzheng, who was still supporting the façade of Beiyang.

Xu Shuzheng's spirit looks pretty good, but his hair is almost half white! The skin also looked a little saggy, as if it had aged ten years all of a sudden. In this office, there is another person. It was Lu Jianzhang. Wu Peifu was slightly stunned by his appearance. But in an instant, it became clear that he probably represented Feng Yuxiang from Texas, right?

Xu Shuzheng barely squeezed out a smile: "Ziyu." Have a seat****?? It's good if you can come, let's sum up the way out of Beiyang together. ”

Wu Peifu smiled bitterly: "If we can find a way, we have already found it, and Zheng, what we have to consider now is probably only our own way out, right?" Chang Yao came out of your door, did he send a representative to contact you? ”

Xu Shuzheng twisted his eyebrows and sneered: "I sent a representative to find Duan Zhi's old ****??" But I'm not going to serve him! The big deal is to go home and eat old rice, but it's not that time yet, so we might be able to fight! ”

Wu Peifu shook his head with a wry smile, and he didn't know what to say for a while. Xu Shuzheng set his eyes on Lu Jianzhang, Lu Jianzhang looked at Wu Peifu, thought for a while, and then spoke: "The plan to assassinate Chang is advancing very smoothly, and that woman has successfully approached Chang Ruiqing's father, Chang Laohu****??" Ready to worship Changmen and become Chang Laohu's closed disciple! ”

"Thorn Chang? You want to kill Chang Ruiqing! Wu Peifu stood up suddenly, and shook his head violently at Xu Shuzheng: "Another Zheng, Chang Ruiqing is not so easy to kill, and our Beiyang is now in full swing, killing him will not help, in case of soup, he retaliates, we will die without a place to be buried!" ”

Xu Shuzheng gritted his teeth: "If you don't kill him, our Beiyang will die without a place to be buried!" The surname Chang is not Sun Yat-sen, he will not give us any chance to turn the tables ****?? He has already rejected the defection of hundreds of thousands of Beiyang troops in Texas and Shangqiu! All he wants is to disarm and surrender! ”

Defection and surrender are completely different concepts! The defection is nothing more than replacing the five-color flag of Beiyang with the blue sky and red of the Nationalist Government, and the army is still privately owned, and it is not listening to the propaganda of the Nationalist Government, and there will be no chance of turning the tables in the future! And disarming and surrendering would be nothing, although the Nationalist government would not pursue any war crimes (defeated?) of those Beiyang generals. and even appoint most of the truly talented officers. However, from then on, they could only integrate into the system of the National Revolutionary Army and become a member of the National Revolutionary Army or the future National Defense Force.

Xu Shuzheng picked up a few envelopes on the table and handed them to Wu Peifu: "This is the condition given by Jiang Jishi, as long as I give him the city of Beijing to occupy, he will promote me as the chairman of Zhili Province!" He looked at Wu Peifu with blazing eyes: "You are the commander of the security of Zhili, and Feng Huanzhang also has another appointment****??" It is estimated that it is some official in the northwest or Shandong. Moreover, each of the three of us can retain at least one division of the army, and the military salary can also be subsidized by the national government, and some troops can also be organized and trained in the localities directly under the central government. ”

A hint of joy flashed on Wu Peifu's face, but then he shook his head again: "He can only be promoted." There is no guarantee that Sun Yat-sen and Chang Ruiqing will agree! It was both of them who were really in power in the Nationalist Government. ”

Xu Shuzheng snorted coldly: "Sun Yat-sen will agree, and he will agree to better conditions!" The problem is Chang Ruiqing, he is now the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and he is also the vice chairman of the Military Commission of their National Government, I heard that half of the members of the Military Commission are on his side, if he resolutely opposes it, Sun Yat-sen will not stand up for us.

That's right, Sun Yat-sen is not Yuan Shikai. Why did he bother to tear his face with Chang Ruiqing for the sake of the remnants of Beiyang? So as long as Chang Ruiqing insists on completely dismantling the Beiyang warlords, Jiang Jishi's promises will be all in vain.

"So we have to get rid of Chang Ruiqing!" Lu Jianzhang said coldly on the side. He originally had a different opinion about Thorn Chang, especially after Feng Yuxiang got the errand of the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Frontier, he planned to order Bai Peony to stop the operation. However, Chang Ruiqing let Bai Chongxi command the troops to inflict heavy losses on Feng Yuxiang's 11th Division. He also issued an ultimatum to the remnants of the Jinpu Road Front Army who retreated to Texas to disarm within a time limit! Only then did Lu Jianzhang completely kill Chang Ruiqing.

****??

Xuzhou, Headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

"The original intention of the establishment of our National Government and the National Revolutionary Army was to bring about the national revolution, but what is the national revolution? In short, it is to save China, and what if China is saved? It is to bring down the warlords and eliminate the great powers! The overthrow of the warlords and the complete reunification of the country are the prerequisites for the expulsion of the great powers and the recovery of national power, which means that China has escaped the crisis of national extinction. The goal of our national revolution has been achieved. The purpose of the Northern Expedition of our National Revolutionary Army this time is also very clear, that is, to defeat the warlords! What we want to defeat is not only Beiyang warlords like Xu Shuzheng and Wu Peifu, but the warlord system that takes the army as their own! We will not allow the old warlords to be brought down. A new warlord has appeared! As for those officers who have been warlords, or who have served for warlords. Our Nationalist Government and the National Revolutionary Army still welcome them to join us, and I believe that they will be able to find suitable positions with us. Do your part for the country and the nation****?? But they must no longer be allowed to have an army for private service. This is why I, as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army, refused to change banners within the encirclement of Shangqiu and the rest of the Beiyang Army in Texas. ”

Chang Ruiqing sat on the rostrum made of several tables and talked eloquently to a group of Chinese and foreign reporters below. Although Beijing has not yet been defeated and the Beiyang Army has not been completely wiped out, the commanders of the two main forces of the Beiyang Army, the First Front Army and the Jinpu Road Front Army, have already issued telegrams that they are willing to "change their past wrongs and participate in the national revolution"! And China's civil wars since the Republic of China have been in this style of not being very strict, and the losing side only needs to send a telegram and then let their army accept the so-so adaptation of the victorious side, so that they can preserve their strength for the future. It is really rare to see someone like Chang Ruiqing who refuses to be incorporated and must disarm and dismiss the hundreds of thousands of remnants of the defeated side of the defeated side.

And Sun Yat-sen, another major shareholder of the Nationalist Government, seems to have no choice but to tolerate and acquiesce in Chang Ruiqing's unreasonable move. However, those who know this Chairman Sun Da know that his old man is actually pretending to be a good person, and half of the members of the military committee are his people! If all China's military power is concentrated in the hands of this committee, there will be no harm to him, the chairman, and this kind of offending thing can still be done by Chang Ruiqing!

However, most of the outsiders did not understand the reason, and they all accused Chang Ruiqing of being too strict and not having the traditional Chinese virtues of forgiving and forgiving. There are also many people who worry that this policy of "driving out everything and killing everything" will prolong the war, which may end soon, and will greatly damage China's vitality. And Chang Ruiqing's purpose in holding such a press conference is precisely to clearly tell all the people in all aspects of his own proposition.

Another reporter asked a question below: "Commander-in-Chief Chang, as far as we know, there are still a large number of new formations in the current sequence of the National Revolutionary Army that are not completely controlled by the Military Commission!" The system they practiced was no different from that practiced by the Beiyang warlords, since the Nationalist government was able to allow them to survive. Why can't the Beiyang warlords be allowed to turn to the revolution and end the civil war as much as possible, so that more lives will not be destroyed? ”

Chang Ruiqing smiled: "The system of the new army is only temporary. Wait until the end of the Northern Expedition. The Military Council will begin to reorganize these revolutionary armies, which also have a certain private armed nature****?? We will still give their leaders preferential treatment, after all, they are all meritorious members of the revolution. But meritorious service does not mean that you can keep your territory and army, and you can become a new warlord! I think you should understand the difference. ”

As soon as these remarks came out, the reporters present also started to talk about it. They also know that at present, the army under the direct jurisdiction of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government is only more than 600,000 officers and men of 12 armies. And the warlords and semi-warlords of various names are armed with at least seven or eight hundred thousand on the land of China! They are the masters of these armies. Which one is not a heroic figure? Who doesn't value the territory of the army more than their lives? How easy is it for the Nationalist Government to reorganize them? If you don't do it, there will be another civil war for many years!

However, Chang Ruiqing no longer had anything to say to these reporters, and he glanced at his adjutants Pan Wenzhao and Zheng Zhongyuan. The two young men hurriedly got up and walked to the rostrum, and announced loudly: "Everyone. Everybody! Commander-in-Chief Chang still has military affairs to deal with, and this is the end of today's news conference. As he spoke, he escorted Chang Ruiqing out of the field, and a few reporters wanted to follow up to ask questions, but they were stopped by Chang Ruiqing's guards, and Chang Ruiqing and the others strode towards the backyard of the headquarters.

As soon as I walked away from the group of reporters. Chang Ruiqing slowed down and smiled at Pan Wenzhao: "Wenzhao, there is nothing important to deal with today, right?" Seeing that the other party nodded, Chang Ruiqing said again: "Then push away all the unimportant arrangements for me." I'm going to go home****?? Alas, I'm about to forget that I'm from Xuzhou. But my son has returned to his hometown in the past two days, and my son must go to see him, right? ”

Pan Wenzhao listened to his "nonsense". Just smile and don't speak. This young man is educated in traditional Chinese culture, and he doesn't have much rebellious thinking, a typical filial son and loyal minister, and he doesn't understand Chang Ruiqing's idea of not respecting Lao Tzu very much.

Chang Ruiqing didn't mean to talk to Pan Wenzhao either, and after telling Zheng Zhongyuan to prepare the convoy, he thought about his thoughts while walking. His plan is actually very clear. With the aftermath of the victory on Longhai Road and Jinpu Road, the Beiyang warlord group will be disintegrated and weakened to the greatest extent. Although his attitude towards the outside world is very tough, it is just a lion's mouth, and it is not non-negotiable. But he would never allow a whole bunch of new warlords to emerge after the victory of the Northern Expedition, as was the case in history! Even if a warlord can survive, he must be temporary and weak.

So in the next step, he has to clean up not only the Beiyang warlords, but also the warlords in the national government system! A large number of newly organized armies will be turned into armies directly under the central government, and the autonomy of Sichuan, Zhejiang, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces will be abolished. However, the autonomy of the Northeast and Northwest (Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet, Suiyuan, Chahar, Mongolia and other provinces) will be maintained for a period of time for the time being, and the Northwest cannot be taken into account. I don't know if Comrade Mao ZD saved him back?

As for the Northeast, ****?? After all, Lao Jiang is covered by Sun Yat-sen, and he is a member of the Military Committee, so he is really not very easy to handle him! It would be good if all the central power belonged to him, and he would be able to deal with him justifiably****?? It's a pity that there is still a Sun Yat-sen now, he won't let himself clean up Jiang Jshi, Lao Jiang is his henchman! Oh, and the Kuomintang Cantonese faction, although this group of people is easier to deal with than Jiang J Shi, but they are always troublesome, if you let the Yue Department and Jiang J Shi join forces after Sun Yat-sen's death, it is really not easy to deal with them! It seems that I have to think of a way to deal with it earlier. There is also GCD, and it is a big trouble if their problems are not dealt with properly! But fortunately, the Chinese Revolution finally won before the end of the Russian Civil War, and he was a powerful member of the Central Bureau of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Central Committee.

He thought about it and went into a trance. It wasn't until Pan Wenzhao's voice sounded again that he found that three black cars and dozens of cavalrymen had appeared in front of him.

"Headmaster, the convoy is ready." Pan Wenzhao opened the door of one of the cars. Chang Ruiqing got in, and then left. When he got into the car, Chang Ruiqing found that his wife Wang Ruonan was already dressed up and sitting inside.

"Yaoru, the old lady's forty-fifth birthday is coming, his old man means to take care of it, by the way****?? I also want to accept a closed disciple at the birthday banquet. "Wang Ruonan came to Xuzhou with his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and in the past two days, he has been running at both ends of the Changfu in Balitun and the Yamen of Xuzhou Daotai, and the second elder of the Chang family (in fact, he is not old) has anything to say to his son, and he also let her daughter-in-law pass the word. The two of them have been in Xuzhou for a while, but they haven't seen their son who is busy with military affairs a few times!!!